NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- A New Orleans Juvenile Court judge says a 14-year-old boy charged with rape deserves a jury trial.
Orleans Parish Juvenile Court Judge Mark Doherty has asked the Louisiana Supreme Court to allow the state's first jury trial for a juvenile, contending that since its juvenile detention centers mirror the punishment functions of adult jails, minors should also be entitled to receive jury trials like adults, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported Monday.
The newspaper said Doherty has long fought for changes in Louisiana's juvenile justice system, in which judges have sole discretion over punishments. The judge, it reported, was instrumental in shutting down a notorious youth prison in Tallulah, La.
His contention that the facilities function more as jails than as rehabilitation centers is echoed by other advocates such as Candice Balmori, a Tulane University law school student attorney who argued Doherty's jury trial request before the state Supreme Court last week.
"They are basically jails with curtains on the windows," the Times-Picayune reported Balmori as arguing. "They come in shackles."
But Assistant District Attorney Alyson Graugnard noted that the state Supreme Court earlier ruled "the (Juvenile Court) judge is the trier of fact."
